Sunday, August 9, 2015

First - a disclaimer: this is a post out of disbelief!
and meant to be based on a lighter look at the world around.

Yesterday, I was at a party.
In Bengaluru.
Usually, one sure fire topic to get everyone passionately involved is - traffic!
But, yesterday was different.
It was about the news item that Bengaluru was the cleanest capital city in India.
For those of us who have been living in Bengaluru - felt that as part of the attempt to trifurcate the city's governing body, the areas we usually are in must have been out of the map.

How else could the filth lying around been missed?

Maybe there is something obvious that we all missed!

We decided to reach out to Yennappa, a long time resident of Bangalore, who has an answer to everything in the world and beyond.

It is very simple Saar.
You should read the report carefully. It says one of the parameters is public urination.
How is that possible in Bengaluru? Tell me, tell me!

First - we do not retain any extra fluids in our body.
We just spit - whenever and where ever.
So the need to relieve ourselves urgently is reduced!

But.. we interrupted - does that not make the city dirty?
No Saar, that is not a parameter for the study.

Also Saar, look at the roads - so many potholes.. and stagnant water.
I don't have the guts to pollute the puddles, that I will have to step into!

Ok, we got it!
Thanks Yennappa.

No No Saar, you are missing another important reason why it is almost impossible to do this on most roads.
That is the Bengaluru style of driving.
Tell me Saar, on which road do you feel safe to just stand on the footpath, without the fear of a two wheeler knocking you down!
We love to ride on the footpath..
Those extra few seconds we save will let us leave office a few seconds early also!!

With complete clarity on the root causes that are Bengaluru's secret to keep the city clean we got back to our party wondering how the rest of the country - and even the world - can learn from Bengaluru.